Christmas Decor

The shepherd with his sheep pointing to Mary, Joseph, and Jesus.

     It's DECEMBER!!  I can hardly believe it!  And Christmas is nearly here!   We have already set up our Christmas decorations which is fantastic to have done.  Today, the first day of December, we had a cold wind so it actually felt like winter.  I'm glad that we have most our outdoor decorating finished!  Yay!     
     Inside the house we have our real Christmas tree with lights and ornaments, while seven stuffed snowmen stand by our clock representing us seven children.  Our living room has a holiday look with the furniture arranged as we always have it for Christmas.  The most popular place in the house these days is directly in front of the heater, a spot occupied nearly all morning by one of us girls.

     In front of our house stands a shepherd boy pointing.  Pointing to a scene on our second story balcony of a young couple with a new baby.  Three wise men or kings are slowly (extremely slowly!) making their way towards Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus, carrying their gifts.  A sign in front of Mary and Joseph states "Iesu wa Ai" or Jesus is Love.  Today we just placed a shining star above the 'stable' and so our Nativity scene is completed.

The kings marching. You can only see two here!

    Now for seven years we've put up this display, and before that we had just the Mary and Joseph part.  Even since Mom and Dad first moved to Japan we've tried to put up some sort of Nativity scene.  Our neighbors and many of the people in the town often comment about our lovely arrangement.  Once we even had a lady from an Osaka Gas company stop by and ask if we were going to put up those Christmas decorations again.  I'm sure that the neighbors don't know what the Nativity symbolizes, but even just having it up has made many stop and wonder.  Perhaps some day it will help open a door in their hearts to find out the true meaning behind Christmas!